Sales Engineer

Job description

**Who we are** Hi there 👋 We’re Ethena, compliance training that customizes itself to you. Ethena combines top-rated training content with intelligent AI that builds and adapts training to reflect your company’s unique brand, roles, policies, and risks, so it feels like your team, whether that’s hard hats or virtual meetings. From auto-assigning courses based on HRIS data to transforming your policies into interactive training in minutes, Ethena helps People, Legal, and Compliance teams launch in days (not months) and cut learner seat time by up to 60% with adaptive learning paths. Ethena supports 1M+ learners across 2,000+ organizations, with a 93% learner approval rating and 96% customer renewal rate. Over the past several years, we’ve delivered consistent, durable growth, including 120%+ net dollar retention, 95%+ gross dollar retention, and strong enterprise expansion across industries. Ethena has become a go-to compliance partner for modern, global organizations. Beyond training, Ethena unifies core compliance tools, Hotline & Case Management, Policy Bot, and Phishing Simulator, into a single platform, with built-in audit trails and compliance controls teams can trust. Trusted by teams at companies like Genesco, Asana, Pinterest, and Synaptics, it’s a great time to join [us.](http://us.How) **How we work** We’re a team that values diversity in all its forms and loves adding new perspectives. We ask thoughtful questions, challenge assumptions, and build with empathy, for customers and for each other. We care about craft, we love feedback, and we take ownership. We also embrace humor (yes, the puns are real), because doing serious work doesn’t have to feel so serious. *Our workforce is fully remote, and your personal working hours can be based on your own timezone. All team-wide meetings are scheduled to be inclusive of all North American time zones.* ### Who we're looking for At Ethena, we’re an AI platform that’s revolutionizing the Compliance space. Our product and engineering teams ship fast—*really* fast. Build cycles are shrinking, product offerings are expanding, and our roadmap evolves to meet the needs of a changing workplace. That’s where you come in. We’re looking for a **Sales Engineer** to serve as the critical technical partner to our revenue teams and prospective customers. You’ll report into an experienced Sales Engineering leader who has built SE functions from the ground up. You’ll bring Ethena’s platform to life by connecting our constantly evolving technology, AI features, and integrations directly to the business outcomes our clients care about. Most importantly, we’re looking for a career technical problem-solver: someone who thrives as an individual contributor in a hands off, high autonomy environment, loves messing around with tech to creatively solve complex customer challenges, create cool prototypes, and tackle diverse projects beyond standard sales call, and wants to continuously hone their technical craft, help us win deals, and expand their impact and pursue career growth as an individual contributor rather than move into people management. Ideal candidates come from customer-facing technical backgrounds—so whether you’ve been an SE, Technical Solutions Engineer, Implementation Manager, or tech-minded CS manager, if you love solving client problems with technology, we want to hear from you. We're hiring both at both the **Analyst / SE I** and **Associate / SE II** levels, and will calibrate level based on relevant experience and demonstrated skills throughout the interview process ### What Makes the Levels We're Hiring at Distinct **Analyst / SE I:** Designed for someone earlier in their technical/customer-facing career who may be transitioning into Sales Engineering from Implementation, Technical Support, Technical CS, Solutions, or another customer-facing SaaS role. Prior SE experience isn't required, but candidates should demonstrate strong technical aptitude through areas like troubleshooting, configuration, APIs/integrations, SSO/HRIS/LMS, technical projects, or light coding/scripting, along with the ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to customers. **Associate / SE II:** Designed for someone who already has demonstrated hands-on Sales Engineering, Solutions Engineering, presales, or equivalent experience supporting B2B SaaS sales cycles. They should already be comfortable partnering with AEs, conducting technical discovery, delivering tailored demos, handling technical questions/objections, and supporting POCs/evaluations without needing to learn the fundamentals of the SE/presales motion. ### Why You'll Love This Role - **A Product That’s Actually Fun to Demo:** You won't be demoing clunky 90s software. Ethena’s product is modern, fast-moving, AI-infused, and constantly improving. - **Scope Beyond the Demo:** You’ll get to own projects outside standard RFPs—building sales enablement, testing out **vibe coding** ideas, building interactive proofs-of-concept, and crafting technical narratives. - **High-Trust, Collaborative Culture:** No micromanagement or step-by-step handholding here. You get the space to take initiative, paired with supportive coaching when you need it. - **Direct Access to Leadership:** You’ll work closely with Sales, Product, and Engineering leadership to help shape our technical go-to-market strategy. ### What you'll do ### **1. Drive Technical Sales & Tailored Demos** - Partner with Account Executives (AEs) and Customer Success Managers (CSMs) during discovery and demo stages to map Ethena’s technical strengths to customer pain points. - Maintain and refine our demo environment, ensuring it showcases our newest AI features, customization capabilities, and real-world client configurations. - Translate product specs, compliance workflows, and technical details into engaging, simple language for HR, IT, Security, and Legal buyers. - *For Associate-level hires:* independently own the technical thread of sales opportunities from discovery and demo strategy through technical evaluation, objections, and close in partnership with the AE. ### **2. Build, Prototype & "Vibe Code"** - Build custom walkthroughs, integrations, and tailored proofs-of-concept for high-priority deals. - Bring a hands-on technical curiosity to the team—whether that’s experimenting with APIs, testing automated demo setups, or **vibe coding** custom tools to help win deals. ### **3. Handle Technical Due Diligence & Enablement** - Field technical and implementation questions covering data security, SSO, and HRIS integrations. - Own responses for RFPs, security reviews, and technical questionnaires with speed and clarity. - Create and maintain sales-ready assets like talk tracks, video walkthroughs/Looms, and objection-handling guides to level up the broader team. - Act as the feedback loop between the field and our Product/Engineering teams. ### What makes a great candidate - **Background Fit:** Experience in a Sales Engineering, Implementation, Technical Solutions, CS, or technical customer-facing role at a **SaaS startup**. We’re open to both experienced candidates and ones looking to step into Sales Engineering for the first time, so note that prior SE experience is *not* required as long as you have customer-facing experience and strong technical potential. - For candidates coming from adjacent backgrounds like Implementation, Technical Solutions, or Technical CS, you should demonstrate both meaningful customer-facing experience **and** strong technical aptitude. - **Technical Curiosity:** You love messing around with software, APIs, integrations (HRIS, LMS, SSO), and AI tools. You get excited about "vibe coding" quick scripts or prototypes to solve a problem. - **High EQ & Adaptability:** You are easy to work with, calm under pressure, and unflappable when plans shift last minute. You hold feedback lightly, take tough notes constructively, and don't get defensive. - **Self-Starter & High Initiative:** You don't wait to be told what to do or need step-by-step instructions. You proactively look for gaps, surface solutions, and take ownership. - **Startup Mindset:** You thrive in fast-paced environments where polish takes a backseat to clarity, fast execution, and rapid iteration. - **IC Trajectory Focus:** You are energized by mastering the craft of Sales Engineering, solving customer problems, and deepening your technical mastery. - **Environmental Familiarity:** You have experience in a startup, growth-stage SaaS company, or similarly fast-moving environment where priorities shift quickly and there aren't always established processes or specialist resources to lean on. ### The Hardest Part of the Role Our product moves fast, and our roadmap evolves continuously. The hardest part of this job is staying ahead of a rapidly innovating platform and translating those technical changes on the fly into crisp, high-impact customer narratives. If last-minute roadmap shifts excite you rather than stress you out, you’re going to love it here.